When is the City of Woodstock going to get serious about the “nuisance” ordinances that prohibit the discarding of junk furniture and household items on the parkway in front of a residence?
At 914 Clay Street and 629 Wheeler Street this week-end were huge amount of trash and household items. These may have been evictions, or else tenants or owners just moved out and abandoned large quantities of junk and items. The “parkway” is the grass portion between the sidewalk and the street.
The City is in a reactive mode only. And slow at that. The City seems to wait until a problem has arisen, instead of being pro-active. Regular notices should appear in newspapers and be posted in public places (library, City Hall, laundromats, etc.) alerting renters and homeowners to be responsible regarding items to be discarded.
The City should know which properties are rentals and be in contact with landlords and tenants about rules they might not otherwise know about.
Water bills would one obvious choice for distributing information. Almost everyone gets a water bill. The reverse side of the water bill could be used for City publicity and promotion of lesser-known ordinances (parking on lawns, accumulations of junk in front and back yards, discarding of household items, storage of inoperable vehicles, etc.).
The Code Enforcement Officer is doing a credible job, but there must be too many repeat calls at residences of violators. How about one warning? Explain the rules. Request compliance. No compliance? Incomplete compliance? Recurring problems? That’s what citations and court are for.
When City Hall is closed (nights, week-ends), residents should be able to complain to the police department when they see neighbors placing junk at the curb, and police should respond, even though their primary responsibility is law enforcement and not code enforcement. Some small towns do utilize police for City Code violations. All that it would take is a directive from the City Manager to the Police Department to do this. Officers are the eyes and ears of the community. At the least, they could notify the dispatcher, who could report to an on-call Code Enforcement officer. Pretty simple stuff, eh?
It’s time to stop pussyfooting around and wasting time and resources to solve problems. One polite request, followed up by a form letter, is adequate. Then issue citations and expect the violator to pay or see him in court.
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3 comments:
Well, I feel that the city code enforcement officer is as corrupt as the former Governor. Ever seen all the stuff being sold in front yards around town? You do know that it is illegal to do so don't you? I know of at least one incident where the enforcement officer did NOT enforce city code when a complaint was filed, but instead wrote up th one that complained! Also, did you know that it is illegal to park on your lawn or the sidewalk. You should drive past some of the multi family homes around town on the weekends ad look at the used car lot they have going.
So how is he (she?) corrupt?
It ain't illegal to sell stuff in your front yard ... jyust go down to City Hall and talk to that guy Rusko and heeel give yuo a permit to sell things for a yard sale or gareg sale ... its only a few bucks! The code enforcement kid does a good job, but I keep seeing him parked in front of my house taking pictures. Folks in town call him "snuffy Smith" cause hes a pack rat ... I hear he keeps all the jum=nk he picks up and takes it home to sell on ebay.
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